Saturday Vigil

As we walked up to the church, I saw a flame that appeared to be in the front doors; I was a bit worried, but then I realized that it couldn't be an uncontrolled fire given that people were just standing around.  As I went up further, I found out that it was actually a flame on a stand and so we just walked past it & walked inside. The Mass started with all the lights going out, all the servers processing out of the church around the flame with the candles and four objects that appeared to be painted pine cones with screws on the ends (they were really plastic).

They lit the Paschal candle using a taper that was lit from the outside fire, said some prayers, and screwed these decorations into the candle.  We then processed inside, followed by the crowd and we stopped maybe halfway up the aisle to light all the candles that the crowd had received.

We finished processing up the aisle with only the (surprising amount of) light let off by these candles.  As soon as we were up to the altar, they flicked on the overhead lights and Mass began.  Before the consecration, we sang the litany of the saints (exact same tune as in America) and processed to the church's container for Holy water.  They blessed some water and poured it into the container, which I had thought was a huge baptismal font.

Then we said more prayers and everyone blew out their candles.  We processed back to the altar and continued with the Mass.

Love,

Jeremy

Good Friday

A cheerful centurion

Today was the day we've been working towards for a while: the live Crucifixion!  And, of course, given our family (not to mention that we're here in Italy!), things were a little different than we expected.

Maria and her brother

To begin with, I have to mention our costume check.  Edwina, our lovely seamstress, had been working like a champ to get everything ready.  And she made it for Tuesday -- what a wonder!
As we were changing, we heard laughter and lamentations, after which a curtain was pulled aside to reveal...Jesus, wearing loincloth and bright blue, fuzzy socks!  I nearly fell over, I was laughing so hard.  Very unexpected look, I must say.

Thief #2

Thief #1

During the check, our crucifixion costume coordinator (like the alliteration?) decided that she hated Michael's look (despite having provided the fabric) and wanted everything changed. Only problem was that I was out (went to Deruta with Bonnie and Bob) and unavailable to explain anything to Edwina; also, truth be told, I was worried about what might end up being lost in translation.  So I told the coordinator to get with Edwina to provide more fabric and explain the changes.  

Jesus got cold while waiting!

Edwina was a marvel, and pulled through.  I really, really hope she didn't have to stay up all night.  When I saw the final product, my eyes popped out of my head: I thought Michael would end up looking like a giant teddy bear.  His robe was a HUGE tan velour tent with elastic on the shoulder seams.  It was nearly completely shapeless and his stole & belt were supposed to be unfinished.  Edwina and I looked at each other doubtfully and agreed that we didn't care, as long as our coordinator was happy.

Brad Pitt, I mean Michael, with James

Time for our rehearsal.  We went to the designated location, and found everyone in varying stages of dress and undress, men in their undies pulling on Roman apparel -- you get the idea.  Lots of laughter and teasing, and definitely camaraderie was the word for the night.  Jeremy had decided that he'd prefer to take part in the procession from the bottom of the hill, rather than being a member of the crucifixion corps.  James took his alb with him so that he could be in the crucifixion, but still serve at the altar in the Duomo.

When we had finally been judged ready, we were allowed out for the actual rehearsal.  It was fairly uneventful, since we didn't have much to do (thankfully).  Can I say how magnificent Michael looked?  I have to confess that my doubts were completely assuaged.  Orietta posited that he looks like Brad Pitt.  I'm not so sure about that (barely knowing what Brad Pitt looks like), but I must say that the style works with his beard.

Mary and her new son

We heard singing coming on the chill breeze...time to take our places!  As the procession rounded the corner, we could see that people were surprised and touched by our scene.  We moved about as specified while our narrators read Jacopone da Todi's poem that conveyed Mary's emotions surrounding her son's crucifixion.  Orietta was an amazing Mary.

That done, the procession moved on.  We scurried up a side alley to rejoin the procession (under orders not to change into street clothes).  Everyone crowded into the Duomo (it was fairly packed! Such a treat!), and Florence & I took our places in the choir stalls.  There were two confraternities there looking adorable in their robes (I love the robes, can't you tell?), and Jesus on the bier, and Mary with a pierced heart.  The statue of Jesus we use is from the 1400s, by the way.

We heard the Gospel reading, and our wonderful bishop gave a homily.  Then everyone who wanted to went up to kiss Jesus' feet while we sang a version of Stabat Mater.  During this period, the idea was for the church to empty, which it did -- and it was quite moving to have the church empty quietly with the mournful music being sung.

Jesus the statue being taken home to the Chiesa del Monte

Jesus was taken back to the tiny church where he reposes during the year, and we went back home.

Love,

Alexandra

Dayenu!

Last Tuesday evening, we celebrated Passover with Bonnie and Bob.  It's such a wonderful way for us to usher in Easter, laughing with friends and family and welcoming Elijah...then remembering the disciples huddled behind the locked door and their fear when Christ walked among them again.

And of course, we get to sing Dayenu!  Very catchy, and I hum it for days afterwards.

We had the Passover plate, which has several elements -- some of which we had to improvise because of local availability.  Instead of horseradish for bitter herbs, we had to use chicory (which Bob spiced up with a local salsa -- it's the red & green at the top).  The charoset was made with hazelnuts instead of walnuts (I think walnuts & pecans are better in this one, but it was still delish!), and the parsley was Italian parsley (with the flat leaves) instead of the curly, which is what we often have.

A little singing and silliness

The orange has a neat significance: during a time of questioning the role of women in the synagogues, a prominent rabbi (correct me, please?) said that women have no more business being on the bima than an orange has on a seder plate.  This was the most ridiculous comparison he could come up with...which immediately resulted in the annual inclusion of oranges on many seder plates.  And as those oranges were included, so were women in the liturgy.  This year, we included a blood orange (they're still in season and I think I've consumed the output of an entire orchard on my own) on the seder plate.

In order to fit everyone, we borrowed the table from apartment B (the apartment next door).  Doesn't it look great?

Elijah didn't come in this year, but (being cold this week) there was quite the draft -- but it didn't cool our joy in being together!

Love,

Alexandra

Friends, rally round!

I went to the rally yesterday!  So much fun to see all those cute little cars hanging out.  Let me start more at the beginning: early!

Sparing you the blow-by-blow of tooth-brushing, etc., Bob and I were ready to set out at about 8 or maybe a little thereafter.  Michael had given me his kiss goodbye and gone down to catch his ride to the race.  And then disaster struck: Florence came to me with tears in her eyes to tell me that her friend Elena might not be able to drive her to the swim meet in Perugia.  Oh, no!

And what it meant was that I had to roust poor Leo out of bed early on a Sunday and tell him something along the lines of, "Florence is supposed to go to a swim meet in Perugia, but I have no idea where it was supposed to be exactly, nor at what time.  The parents of a friend were planning to pick her up at 10 this morning, and I'm about to leave in the car for my rally.  I can't talk on the phone in the car because it's too hard to drive and talk, AND you can't hear anything. She belongs to the team meeting at the gym in Pantalla.  Can you please be our savior yet again and help her figure out where she's supposed to be and get her there somehow?  Pretty please?"

Poor man, he sighed and indubitably muttered imprecations to himself about those crazy Hooks.

Off Bob and I sailed, content in the knowledge that Florence was well looked after.  We made sure we enjoyed our drive to the utmost by getting lost about six times on the way! Have you heard about how Google maps is foolish enough to give you highway names (rather than "direction of x town"), ensuring that you can't possibly find your way (highway name signs are non-existent here)?  Well, this time I outsmarted the system by having my own lovely large-scale map of Umbria with us.  It turns out that this is an Italian map: the highway names or numbers are not labeled!  So on the rare occasion that we actually SAW a number, it did us absolutely no good whatsoever!  Confounding the issue was the fact that any town names on signs were non-existent on our map and vice-versa.

We went in the correct general direction and then asked. And asked. And asked. We were like a homing missile, overshooting here and correcting, overshooting there and correcting, and so on. I was so excited when I saw my first 500 heading towards the rally!  

They didn't all have to be Fiat 500s.

Don't you love the station wagon?

The VW bug looked like a complete monster!

The steering wheel on this one was unusually small -- about 10" diameter

At Umbertide

We made it & registered in plenty of time, and were there for the start of the drive to Umbertide.  There we were, all in a cute little line.  An impatient motorcyclist zoomed on by, much to my bemusement...and then I realized that he was our escort!

About an hour later, we made it to Umbertide.  We parked next to the Rocca, and explored this fortress that dates to the 1200s or so. After a little while, it was time to drive back!

La Rocca di Umbertide

Bob joining me at the fortress

View from the turret

The spout -- 1700s? The faucet -- 1950s styling.  The plaque -- 1990!

In one of the turrets

View of the parking lot from the fortress

Aren't they adorable?

Grinding stone of some sort

Handy grate for boiling oil & the like

I thought this was a neat door with a face hole.

Toilet?

Back of door, showing face hole lock, etc.

Back in Mantignana, it was time for lunch.  And not just any lunch.  You have to understand that the Italians take their food very seriously.  Appetizer of devil-type egg (half hard-boiled egg with anchovy coiled around a circle of mayonnaise), prosciutto, salami, etc., with local beans dish (think pork 'n' beans).  Pasta (scrumptious).  Main course of veggie, three different meats (sausage, pork, and something else that was yummy).  Dessert of colomba (the Easter answer to panettone) and biscotti served with vin santo.  And, yes, wine was flowing more quickly than water.

Sadly, it was time to go home.  Bob and I managed to be equally circuitous on our way back.  A funny episode involved Solomeo.  I knew quite firmly that we did not want to go via Solomeo.  So with every sign we encountered, I avoided that direction.  Where did we end up?  You got it...Solomeo.  At that point, the "best" way back was to go to Agello.  Following the signs for Agello...did not get us to Agello.  However, we fortunately found ourselves somewhere I recognized, so we could navigate quite happily from there -- quite probably not our the most advantageous route. For your amusement, I attempted to capture some of our driving...bear in mind that some of the circles may have been covered more than once

Love,

Alexandra